Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

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After Effects Technology Preview: Part 4

Published by | Friday, April 26th, 2013

Better blurring, snapping, scaling, and more

In this final blog about some of the new features Adobe has revealed for an upcoming version of After Effects, I turn my attention to some small enhancements that fans have long been waiting for and that promise to save users a lot of time.

Layer snapping

Some of the best new features in After Effects don’t necessarily affect the images you see on screen, but make life easier while you’re working with those images. One such feature is the new snapping behavior in After Effects. It lets you easily align an edge, corner, center point, or even mask vertex of one layer with a similar (or dissimilar) feature of another layer. It even works in 3D, including finding the center of an extruded 3D shape, and snapping to individual letters in a per-character 3D text animation. This will make building virtual worlds and objects much easier in After Effects.

Snapping in After Effects

Muybridge sequence courtesy Dover

 
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After Effects Technology Preview: Part 3

Published by | Friday, April 19th, 2013

Warp Stabilizer VFX and 3D Camera Tracker enhancements

Next in my review of significant new features that Adobe has revealed for an upcoming version of After Effects, let’s look at enhancements to the Warp Stabilizer and 3D Camera Tracker tools already available in After Effects.

Warp Stabilizer VFX

Many treat Warp Stabilizer as an apply-it-and-done stabilization effect. Now it looks poised to become a serious visual effects tool in its own right with the ability to take on many of the tasks you might have previously reserved for a motion tracker.

For example, in addition to stabilizing footage, you will now be able to reverse a stabilization. That means you can stabilize a shot for the sake of applying effects to it (including the After Effects Paint tool, which is rendered as an effect), and then reverse the stabilization to restore the original camera movement to the affected painted shot. The camera motion calculated in the original, unstabilized shot can also be applied to another layer to composite it onto the original.

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After Effects Technology Preview: Part 2

Published by | Friday, April 12th, 2013

Refine Edge: A new way to deal with hair

As you no doubt know by now, Adobe has started to reveal some plans for its next generation of pro video tools. I’ve had the privilege of working with a pre-release version of Adobe After Effects, and recorded two hours of lynda.com training about it. In this blog, I’ll give you an overview of the Refine Edge tool, an important addition to the Roto Brush technology that will make rotoscoping hair and other soft, detailed areas much easier than ever before.

Roto Brush and Refine Edge

The Roto Brush tool in After Effects has been significantly upgraded with the addition of a companion Refine Edge tool. To review, Roto Brush allows you to make a series of general paint strokes defining the foreground and background areas of an image (such as an actor over a complex background—in other words, not green screen). With this information, as well as judicious tweaking of its propagation parameters, Roto Brush then detects the edge between the foreground and background, and creates a matte. When used properly (as demonstrated in my course After Effects Apprentice 13: Paint, Roto, and Puppet), it can greatly reduce the labor involved in cutting elements out of video.

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After Effects technology preview: Part 1

Published by | Friday, April 5th, 2013

Adobe has started to reveal some plans for its next generation of pro video tools. Using a prerelease version of After Effects, I’ve recorded two hours of videos for lynda.com to keep you ahead of the curve. Over the course of a few blogs, I’ll fill you in on some of the interesting features that are on tap. First up, the new integration between After Effects and CINEMA 4D.

Live 3D pipeline between After Effects and CINEMA 4D

A couple of weeks ago, Adobe and MAXON issued a press release announcing a “strategic alliance … to bring creative professionals new levels of digital media content creation.” Buried inside that release was the intriguing statement that “As part of the alliance, both companies are expected to collaborate and engineer a pipeline between Adobe After Effects software and CINEMA 4D to give users a seamless 2D/3D foundation.” Now we can finally see what they were hinting at.

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The power of previsualization… what is “preVIZ”?

Published by | Friday, February 1st, 2013

The power of preVIZ

PreVIZ is short for “previsualization.” It’s a technique that allows filmmakers to quickly visualize parts of a script to solve problems and inform planning and execution prior to a costly production phase. Oftentimes, this process creates momentum and excitement and helps you determine where to allocate your creative and financial efforts.

What if you had a looking glass into the future of your projects? What if you could help uncover what projects your firm would work on and what they’d look like? I discovered something amazing by watching several behind-the-scenes documentaries of my kids’ DVDs. This insight helped me identify an opportunity for a new type of design group at my company. I realized that filmmakers had developed a language and a methodology for creating their movies and telling their stories. I learned that the same process could be used to design anything from a website, product, service, or business strategy. Storytelling the future seemed like a very valuable proposition.

I was discovering the power of preVIZ.

I’ve been a designer for almost 20 years. Design has taught me how to frame problems to help build a team, launch a service, or create a product. But I’ve often wondered: How do you better decide what to design? How do great companies decide what not to design? I’ve since discovered that previsualization is one of the most impactful approaches to position a design discipline inside of a project or company context.

Here are a few examples:

Sequential narrative: For web and app designers, you might call this a prototype. The difference is that you previsualize an application or website even before you decide to create one. Allowing the stakeholders to commit to a “story” or a customer narrative is influential in decision making.

Headlines of the future: This simple exercise works for all kinds of disciplines. Basically you write a hypothetical headline of the future to emulate the reaction of a product or service you haven’t even designed yet. It’s like starting with the desired response and working backward. Quoting an influential publication or a target customer is valuable to establish a project’s “global north.”

A video vision: Think of this like the value proposition and explanation of what you all could build together, or in some cases, the battle cry for a production team. Our team did a video for eBay Motors Garage when they decided they wanted to create a global social network for vehicles. The video was created before the project was even in production.

Here are a few disciplines that can benefit from using previsualization in their work:

  • Software/web developers: Visualizing a software architecture, algorithm, or engineering “approach,” for example, a touch interface previsualized from the consumer publishing group Bonnier, which inspired thousands of conversations about the future of magazines.
  • Illustrators: Putting an illustration in context can extend a commission from a project to an entire campaign.
  • Animators: Using a simple animatic can upsell your involvement in the project and show a director your editing and storytelling skills.
  • Product designers: Showing how a product may feel or behave in the physical form helps in the entire process from concept development to production.
  • Photographers: Using previsualization can help you plan, budget, and staff a photo shoot or production.
  • Managers/directors: Managing the creative process in any capacity, you get insight into how to better staff, budget, and produce your project by allowing it to be previsualized.

I took my curiosity for previsualization a bit further. I approached lynda.com as an author. I was interested how other industries previsualize their products and services. I wanted to learn more. I knew that design tools had evolved to provide more iteration into the creative-making process, but I was curious about how they were using these tools to rehearse their future. I decided to seek out experts in other fields of design, like automotive, product, and film and video.

And so our journey began. Richard Koci Hernandez and I have partnered on a number of lynda.com titles. We started by offering what I call “life skills” for designers, launching Pitching Projects and Products to Executives. Soon after, we added the The Power of PreVIZ at BMW Group DesignworksUSA’.

I’m thrilled to launch our second installment in the PreVIZ series. The Power of PreVIZ at One & Co explores how previsualization is used in product design. One & Co founders unpack their process and give examples on how they create products, furniture, and mobile phones for HTC.

Leading designers increasingly turn to preVIZ to model their concepts and processes.

Two years since my journey started, I’m still learning about previsualization. I’ve since hired and built a preVIZ team at eBay, and have been honored to speak about what we’ve learned along the way. Our preVIZ team at eBay has since had a tremendous impact on the future of product strategy. We’ve employed new ways of working and new types of deliverables. It’s been exciting to watch.

Do you use previsualization in your work? We’d love to hear from you and how you use it in your work.

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Posted in 3D + Animation, Business, Design, Video | 1 Comment »

Our team’s New Year’s learning resolutions, inspired and supported by the lynda.com library

Published by | Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

Although the New Year’s resolution lists that proliferate in late December are full of worthy goals, my favorite remains “learn something new.” This time of year, I like the theme of giving in to expansion over contraction, generosity over deprivation, and passion over willpower. The staff, authors, and members here at lynda.com know that our library is a great resource to have if learning is on your life list.

Although many of us on the Content team work in a specific segment of the library, we can’t help but notice the intriguing courses our colleagues are developing in other areas. This year I asked members of the team, acknowledged enthusiasts in their given fields, which areas outside their usual sphere of knowledge are capturing their interest. Here are their answers and some suggestions for where they might want to start (or where you might want to start if you share the same interest).

Morten Rand-Hendriksen, staff author, Web segment
“Over the holidays I want to power through all the photography courses in the archive. Because it’s been a long time since I sat down and really tried to improve my photography skills. I also really want to become a more creative designer/artist, so I’ll be looking into any course that helps me in that respect.”

Recommendation: If you can’t get through the whole Photography segment in one holiday week off, you might try Foundations of Photography: Composition to start. Ben Long teaches principles that definitely go beyond photography into general artistry.

Jess Stratton, staff author, Business segment
“I’d like to learn something for the sake of a hobby this year—getting back into playing the keyboard and recording it somehow, but I don’t know how to start getting it from my keyboard into the computer. I want to check out the course on recording music using an iPad.”

Recommendation: Garrick Chow’s iPad Music Production series is the place for Jess and like-minded musicians. The first course—iPad Music Production: Inputs, Mics, and MIDI—is a great place to start (although if you’re up for playing on an iOS device directly, the GarageBand installment makes making music on your iPad look really fun).

David Franz, content manager, Audio segment
“Social media marketing … I want my music to rock the world! :) .”

Recommendation: I’ve noticed David isn’t the only musician who knows that thriving in the music business requires a direct relationship with fans via social media. Until David develops that perfect course expressly for musicians, there’s great material for getting started in our Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter course.

Mordy Golding, director of content, Design and Photography segment
“I’ve been teaching myself Processing—the computer language. I’m interested in finding better ways to visualize data.”

Recommendation: A few months ago, our Developer group released Interactive Data Visualization with Processing. Processing is a tool that can literally change data into (beautiful and useful) art.

Elinor Actipis, director of content, Rich Media segment
Doug Winnie, director of content, Web and Developer segment

Both Elinor and Doug mentioned sharpening their advanced Excel skills, particularly with respect to data analysis. (Is it a coincidence that our directors are all about visualization of data?)

Recommendation: Our Excel library is vast and valuable, but for data crunching, one of my favorite courses is Cleaning Up Your Excel Data with Dennis Taylor. Dennis has great tips for efficiently wrangling all those numbers into consistent tables, making analysis both easier and more accurate.

George Maestri, content manager, 3D and Animation segment
Matt Gilbert, associate content manager, Business segment
Jim Heid, content manager, Photography segment

These three content managers from three different segments all mentioned wanting to learn about ebook publishing and iOS apps as content containers.

George notes: “I had a few cartoon pitches that got lost in development when I was at the studios. I figure releasing them as books/apps would be a fun distraction.”

And Jim: “Ebook publishing is hot among photographers. And as someone who grew up with tape recorders, movie cameras, and cameras, I have a lot of “family assets” that I’d like to turn into a little interactive memoir for my family.”

Recommendation: We’ve got excellent courses on iBooks Author, iOS app creation, EPUB with InDesign, and using jQuery in your digital magazine. If you don’t know where to start, Digital Publishing Fundamentals runs down the options you have for turning your words and pictures into electronic works of art.

Links:
• iBooks Author Essential Training
• iOS app creation
• EPUB with InDesign
• jQuery
• Digital Publishing Fundamentals

Rob Garrott, content manager, Video segment
“I’m going to try to get into a bit of coding. I should probably start digging into web coding, but that’s too much broccoli, so I might start with Python. That is a core component of truly advanced 3D animation, and I’ve been afraid to touch it.”

Recommendation: (Mental note: Broccoli is the new spinach!) Many members are happy to jump into Bill Weinman’s Python 3 Essential Training course. For those who want to warm up their veggies slowly, you may try Simon Allardice’s Foundations of Programming: Object-Oriented Design course.

Links:
• Python 3 Essential Training
• Foundations of Programming: Object-Oriented Design

Cynthia Scott, director of content, Business segment
“Top on my learning wish list is the On Camera series.”

Recommendation: The first of this series, On Camera: Develop Your Video Presence, immediately had me thinking of uses beyond straightforward video (it also had me knocking on Cynthia’s office door to share how valuable I thought it was to Business folk). In the days of Skype-based job interviews and high-stakes video conferencing, many of Rick’s suggestions prepare you for time in front of any camera, not just those destined for edited, produced video.

Ben Long, author, Photography segment
Finally, since so many of my interviewee colleagues mentioned Ben Long’s photography courses, I thought it would be interesting to ask Ben himself what he might be interested in learning from the library in 2013. True to his polymathic nature, he mentioned several things from iPhone development to Maya to WordPress. But perhaps he summed up the width and breadth of the lynda.com library (and the voracious appetite of any lifelong learner) when he asked:

“And where’s that course for adding 12 hours to one’s day?”

When we release “Changing the Laws of the Universe,” Ben, we’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, there’s Time Management Fundamentals.

What are your New Year’s learning resolutions? Let us help you find the lynda.com courses to get you on your way.

Posted in 3D + Animation, Audio, Business, Design, Photography, Video, Web | No Comments »

Quick tip: Knowing when to use autofocus in videography

Published by | Sunday, July 15th, 2012

If you’re only used to shooting video with a consumer camera or camera phone, you may rely heavily on autofocus. It’s a habit you should break if you want to shoot professional-looking video, because autofocus is simply not reliable under many shooting circumstances. For example, it’s all but useless in low-light situations, and sometimes if you have other people or objects that cross in the foreground of your subject your camera’s autofocus may choose to focuses on the wrong subject.

Detail of autofocus switch on video camera.

Sometimes using autofocus is the best way to get the shot you need.

This doesn’t mean that you should never use autofocus. It does have its uses and sometimes may be the only realistic way to pull off certain shots. Here are three scenarios in which autofocus may be your best bet for getting the shot you need:

1. Moving fast on your feet with the camera
When there’s a tricky camera move you need to pull off, like a dramatic flyby, it’s difficult to maintain your composition, move fast with your camera, and not trip at the same time. Here, autofocus will probably be your best option.

Videographer shooting a juggler in a park.

Autofocus can help you move fast on your feet and focus on your shot without falling.

2. Certain pan or tilt moves
Certain pan or tilt moves may be easier with autofocus. In good lighting conditions, your camera may adjust faster and smoother than you can manually.

3. Heading multiple jobs at a shoot
If you’re acting as cameraperson, director, and audio engineer all at the same time, shooting a chaotic situation (a run-and-gun shoot), it’s a great time to hit the autofocus button.

If you’re interested in more video tips, check out Anthony Q. Artis’s full course, Fundamentals of Video: Cameras and Shooting.

Posted in Video | 1 Comment »

How to use XRefs in CINEMA 4D, and why they’re a good idea

Published by | Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Efficiency and flexibility are not just marketing terms, they’re what make motion graphics achievable. Creating moving images is incredibly labor intensive, and once all that labor is done, you still have to hit the render button and wait to preview the result. Being efficient is crucial to meeting deadlines.

Creating a workflow that allows you to swap and modify key elements at any point in the production process is what XRefs are all about. An XRef is a special object that points to a scene file much in the same way a print program, like Illustrator, points back to a master image and uses the original file from the hard drive for printing. Visually, the XRef appears to you as a single object, but it actually represents all the objects in the scene that it’s pointing back to. This means that you can make changes to that scene file, and any XRef that points back to it will automatically update. This also means, since R13 XRef objects allow you to reference a CINEMA 4D file as a single object, that you can manipulate an XRef from an entirely different scene, thus allowing for distributed workflows where one person is modeling while another person animates. This makes for a very flexible way to work.

In this week’s Design in Motion video, I’ll show you how to add an XRef into your animation, and I’ll show you a real-life scenario where having XRefs set up allows me to easily swap two cars in a chase scene, with two completely different cars—all without having to update my animation. If you’re new to XRefs, this tutorial quickly breaks the process down to help you get started. XRefs have made last-minute director swaps quick and easy for me many times, and they can save you, too!

The overall XRef experience has been significantly improved in CINEMA 4D R13. To learn more about those improvements, check out my full CINEMA 4D R13 New Features course on lynda.com. If you are a lynda.com member, make sure to check out chapter five, where I discuss R13 workflow additions, including a specific video on the Xrefs format rewrite.

 

Interested in more?
• The full Design in Motion weekly series on lynda.com
• All CINEMA 4D courses on lynda.com
• Courses by Rob Garrott on lynda.com

Suggested courses to watch next:
• CINEMA 4D R12 Essential Training
• CINEMA 4D R13 New Features
• After Effects CS5 Essential Training
 • CINEMA 4D: Rendering Motion Graphics for After Effects

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